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Stephen P. Hinshaw

Stephen P. Hinshaw (born December 1, 1952) is an internationally recognized psychologist, whose contributions lie in the areas of developmental psychopathology and combating the stigma that still surrounds mental illness. He is the author of more than 325 scientific articles and chapters as well as 14 authored and edited books. Currently, he is Professor (and former Department Chair) in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley,[1] and Professor In Residence and Vice Chair for Child and Adolescent Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco.[2] His work focuses on child and adolescent mental disorders, clinical interventions, mechanisms of change in psychopathology, and stigma prevention efforts, with a specialization in ADHD and other externalizing behavioral disorders.

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The primary focus of his research is externalizing behavior dimensions and disorders, particularly ADHD; family, peer, and neuropsychological risk factors; mechanisms of change via clinical trials; and the stigmatization of mental illness. His work has featured the interplay between psychobiological vulnerability and family and peer-related risk factors and impairments, emphasizing transactional models of influence. His work on randomized clinical trials of pharmacologic and psychosocial interventions for children with attention-related and impulsive behavior problems emphasizes understanding the mechanisms underlying clinically significant change, particularly family processes. He has been awarded numerous federal grants[3] for his investigations.

Hinshaw was documented as one the 10 most productive scholars[4] in the field of clinical psychology across the past decade. From 2009-2014 he was editor of Psychological Bulletin, the most cited journal in general psychology. He is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His research efforts have been recognized by California’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution in Psychology Award (2009),[5] the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology (2015),[6] and the James McKeen Cattell Award from the Association for Psychological Science (2016)[7] —its highest award, for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to applied psychological research—and the Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Child Development Award (2017)[8] from the Society for Research in Child Development.

Hinshaw’s research is regularly featured in various mainstream media outlets including ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, CNN, Huffington Post, NBC Today Show, New York Times, Newsweek, Oakland Tribune, Psychology Today, People Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, The Economist, Time, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.

In 2001, Hinshaw received the Distinguished Teaching Award from UC Berkeley’s Division of Social Sciences.[10] His Teaching Company (‘Great Lecture’) series, “Origins of the Human Mind,” was released in 2010.

Regarding his 2007 book, The Mark of Shame, Stigma of Mental Illness and an Agenda for Change, the New England Journal of Medicine review stated the following: “Hinshaw's skill as a writer cannot be overstated. He uses a mixture of technical and lay language to paint a picture of stigma across the ages that is thoroughly enjoyable to read despite its often distressing content. In addition to being a professor of psychology, Hinshaw comes across as a passionate historian and humanitarian.“ Regarding his 2014 book with R. Scheffler, The ADHD Explosion, Publisher’s Weekly called it “…complex, thought-provoking, and urgent.”[11]

Hinshaw attended Harvard University from 1970-1974, concentrating in Psychology and Social Relations. After graduating, he directed a residential summer camp for children with serious disabilities (Camp Freedom) and a day school program operating out of Massachusetts Mental Health Center (Therapeutic Center) for children who had been excluded from public school settings. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at UCLA, before serving as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. He was a Visiting Lecturer at UC Berkeley, an Assistant Professor at UCLA and an Assistant, Associate, and currently Professor at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco.

Over the years he has served as Principal Investigator for the Berkeley site in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA Study)[12] and founded the Berkeley Girls with ADHD Longitudinal Study (BGALS),[13] the largest study of girls with this condition in existence. Contributions from the latter investigation include delineating the serious risk for self-harm (suicide attempts and non-suicidal self-injury) in girls with ADHD as they mature into late adolescence and early adulthood. Among other consultantships and affiliations, he serves on the scientific board of Bring Change 2 Mind, Glenn Close’s antistigma organization, and as Co-Chair of the Scientific Research Council of the Child Mind Institute.

Stephen P. Hinshaw was born on December 1, 1952, in Columbus Ohio. He was the oldest child in the family; his sister, Sally P. Hinshaw, is 15 months younger. It wasn’t until he was 18 that Hinshaw’s father, the eminent philosopher Virgil Hinshaw, Jr., let him in on a family secret, which had been explicitly forbidden from discussion by Virgil’s doctors. Once his father’s ‘madness’ — a lifelong, cyclic psychotic illness misdiagnosed as schizophrenia, which Hinshaw subsequently corrected as bipolar disorder — was out in the open, Hinshaw's career trajectory moved toward clinical psychology. Subsequent discussions revealed a history of involuntary hospitalizations and other brutal treatments, fueling Hinshaw’s lifelong passion for understanding vulnerable children and eradicating mental illness stigma.